This invention relates to meter reading apparatus and, more particularly, relates to apparatus of the type adapted to facilitate the visual reading of water meters or the like disposed beneath the ground surface and particularly when submerged below water.
In a typical residential water meter installation, it is commonplace to locate the meter subterraneously in a conveniently located shallow pit, and to further provide a suitable cover which may be easily removed for periodic monitoring and recordation of the meters readings.
While it is certainly possible for the water company employee or reader to stoop or kneel to obtain a closer view of the meter dials, this becomes an impractical, extremely tiresome and physically demanding task, particularly when it is considered that such work may typically involve the reading of several hundred meters in one day.
Thus, it became highly desirable to enable a meter reader to read water meters or the like from a more erect posture. However, one problem associated with such attempts to do so was that, due to the poorly illuminated location of the meter, the positions of the various meter dials were relatively obscured resulting in inaccurate readings. The use of flashlights or other sources of artificial illumination often proved unsatisfactory due to the glare of the meter face from direct lighting. Moreover, other situations were commonly encountered wherein natural ambient light was too strong to permit such readings to be taken from a relatively upright position, again due to the meter face glare. It thus became desirable to find some method for selectively controlling the amount of light which was incident upon the meter face to adjust to the changing or varying conditions.
Yet another problem encountered was that, again, frequently due to the conventional placement of such meters, it was commonplace, upon removal of the protective covering, to find the meter face entirely covered with mud or otherwise submerged in interstitial water which had collected in the underground cavity housing the meter due to water runoffs, collection of rainfall, effluents or the like, rendering a meter reading impossible.
One attempted solution was to manually kneel down to wipe the meter face clean, thence place a canister such as a coffee can with both ends removed or a tube about the meter, and then proceed to "bail out" the area internal of the can or tube with a coffee cup or the like until the water level receeded below the meter face. Such a method was time consuming due to the fact that the can had to be wide enough to circumscribe the flipped-back protective lid to the meter face as well as the face itself, resulting in a great deal of water to be removed. It was further difficult to obtain a good seal about the meter with the can. Moreover, the necessary apparatus was extremely cumbersome and inconvenient to carry about during a day's readings along with the necessary book for recording the readings and the like.
Thus, it was highly desirable to find an apparatus for enhancing the ability to quickly read meters in a wide variety of conditions which was at the same time light, easy and convenient to carry, compact, and of a simple construction. More particularly, such an apparatus was highly desirable which would permit meter readings to be taken in erect positions in a wide variety of conditions including complete darkness or dusk, bright sunlight, and other conditions encountered at the situs of the meter such as the aforementioned submerged meter situations or those in which the face was obscured by mud or the like. These and other disadvantages of the prior art are overcome by the meter reading apparatus of the present invention.